Yesterday, President G.W.
Bush took
the oath of office and delivered his second inaugural address. As
political speeches go, this one was rather brief only consuming four
typewritten pages. Following are excerpts along with my abbreviated
comments.

"I am determined to fulfill
the oath
that I have sworn and you have witnessed." (President Bush, January 20,
2005, Inaugural Address)

Unfortunately, President
Bush either
has no intention of fulfilling his oath to "preserve, protect, and
defend the Constitution of the United States" or he has no inclination
as to what the Constitution says, because virtually everything he has
done since being elected in 2000 has been egregiously unconstitutional.

From expanding
unconstitutional
federal funding and oversight for public education to intensifying
unconstitutional federal police encroachments upon our freedoms and
liberties via the Department of Homeland Security and Patriot Acts to
unilaterally and unconstitutionally ordering the invasion and
occupation of Iraq, President Bush has demonstrated a calloused
disregard for the Constitution. To now proclaim that he is "determined
to fulfill the oath that I have sworn" is meaningless rhetoric.

"The best hope for peace in
our world
is the expansion of freedom in all the world." (President Bush, January
20, 2005, Inaugural Address)

This statement formed a
redundant
theme throughout the President's speech. For example, Bush also said,
"the ultimate goal of ending tyranny around the world." And, "one day
this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our
world." Still other similar statements include, "the global appeal of
liberty" and "a world moving toward liberty", etc.

The tenor and tone of the
President's
speech are very clear: G.W. Bush intends to use America's armed forces
for imperialistic and expansionist purposes. Therefore, I believe it is
all but certain that Bush will order our troops to invade and occupy
Iran and Syria and perhaps even plans an attack against North Korea.

It is yet to be seen how
long Bush's
military aggression will be tolerated by the American people. After
all, the cost in terms of American lives and tax dollars are so far
incalculable. One thing is certain: we have not yet begun to see the
tip of the proverbial iceberg!

"The United States will not
ignore
your oppression, or excuse your oppressors." (President Bush, January
20, 2005, Inaugural Address)

Of course, the United States
has
ignored oppression for decades. Two of the most egregious examples of
this are China and The Sudan.

The Communist Chinese
government is
one of the most prolific murder machines in world history. The toll of
oppression and death inflicted upon the Chinese people by this killing
machine is impossible to calculate.

Yet, the United States has
invested
billions of trade dollars into this monster with absolute disregard to
the suffering souls of China. President Bush has continued the "one
China" policy of his predecessors and has freely imported China's
slave-labor products to the point that America's manufacturing base has
all but disappeared and our trade deficits continue to break all-time
records.

Likewise, President Bush has
turned a
blind-eye to the suffering people of The Sudan. The Chinese-sponsored
Khartoum government has murdered more than 2 million people during the
past two decades with utter impunity. The oppression and brutality
inflicted upon the Sudanese people staggers the imagination. Men are
crucified; women are raped into submission; children are tortured and
sold into slavery. Yet, the White House seems totally oblivious to
their plight.

I would like to believe that
President
Bush would include unborn babies in this statement, but his actions on
this subject prove otherwise.

More than four million
unborn babies
have been mercilessly slaughtered in the wombs of their mothers since
G.W. Bush first took office in 2001. Abortion on demand is still
practiced undaunted in these United States, rhetoric to the contrary
notwithstanding.

Regarding abortion,
President Bush and
his fellow Republicans in Congress have proven to be "paper tigers."
They talk pro-life during an election campaign season, but they have no
intention of actually saving the lives of the unborn.

Even the Partial Birth
Abortion bill
which Congress passed and President Bush signed is nothing but an
elaborate ruse to make Christians and pro-lifers feel good about voting
Republican. There was nothing of substance to it!

If anything, the Partial
Birth
Abortion bill serves to cement abortion on demand into the legal fabric
of America. By singling out only one abortion procedure (the least one
used, no less; it accounts for less than one percent of all abortions),
all remaining abortion procedures are thereby certified to be tolerable
and legal.

Beyond that, President Bush
has
increased federal funding for both domestic and overseas abortion
providers to record numbers. [Read: Medicaid
Abortions]. He has consistently refused
to make
the life issue pertinent to his selection of federal judges. In fact,
reports I have read indicate that no less than two-thirds of his
judicial appointments to date are either neutral or lean pro-abortion.
That is hardly the track record of a true pro-life leader!

Add the fact that both
Congress and
the President have the authority to end abortion on demand anytime they
would choose to do it, and one easily sees through Bush's pro-life
façade.

Congress could end the
federal
government's endorsement of abortion on demand by exercising their
constitutional authority granted under Article III, Section 2, to
regulate and except appellate jurisdiction of the federal judiciary,
including the U.S. Supreme Court. Such action would clear the way for
state legislatures to outlaw abortion on demand in their respective
states.

However, President Bush has
shown no
propensity to encourage Congress to fulfill this constitutional
obligation. He has not even taken a position on Judge Roy Moore's Constitution
Restoration Act which was
introduced in both chambers of Congress.

In addition, the President
has the
power to end abortion on demand by refusing to execute what he
considers unlawful and unconstitutional Supreme Court decisions. After
all, the Supreme Court is not a power unto itself. It is one of three
coequal branches of the federal government. As designed by the
founders, each branch holds check and balance on the other. This means
the judicial branch has no power to execute any decision or opinion.
That authority belongs exclusively to the President.

For example, President
Thomas
Jefferson refused to honor the Alien and Sedition Act. After being told
the Supreme Court upheld the law, Jefferson quipped, (paraphrase)
"Fine. Now let's see if they can enforce it." Obviously, the Court had
no authority to enforce its opinion, so without Jefferson's assistance,
the bill became moot. And note that Jefferson was not removed from
office by Congress.

The point is, if President
Bush truly
wanted to end the slaughter of unborn innocents, he could do it! By
declaring unborn babies persons under the Fifth Amendment, he could
issue an Executive Order to his justice department that the federal
government would not interfere with those states that would choose to
enact laws against abortion. Again, this would allow state legislatures
and state governors to implement abortion laws as they deemed
necessary.

Yet, neither a
Republican-controlled
Congress nor President G.W. Bush has done anything consequential to end
abortion on demand. So much for Bush's statement, "the unwanted have
worth."

I really wish I could be
optimistic
about President Bush's second term. I cannot. I'm afraid that unborn
babies will yet be undefended. Furthermore, I fear this president is
leading America into a federal police state at home and into an era of
military expansionism overseas. I pray I'm wrong.

Chuck Baldwin is
Founder-Pastor of
Crossroads Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. In 1985 the church was
recognized by President Ronald Reagan for its unusual growth and
influence.

Dr. Baldwin is the host of a lively,
hard-hitting syndicated radio talk show on the Genesis Communications
Network called, "Chuck Baldwin Live" This is a daily, one hour long
call-in show in which Dr. Baldwin addresses current event topics from a
conservative Christian point of view. Pastor Baldwin writes weekly
articles on the internet http://www.ChuckBaldwinLive.com and
newspapers.

Unfortunately, President Bush either has no intention of fulfilling his
oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States" or he has no inclination as to what the Constitution says